


Musical chairs

by ShortcakeCrow



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: Alternate Universe - Hope's Peak Academy (Dangan Ronpa), Angst, Comedy, Horror, M/M, NOBODY DIES DONT WORRY THERES A REASON THERE ARE NO WARNINGS LOL, Rated T for swearing, Romance, and spooky things, i refuse to use tarzanspeak for gonta im sorry, not like straight up horror but just like horror elements, theres a haunted mansion, well the angst only comes in at the very end but shh
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-23
Updated: 2019-01-15
Packaged: 2019-08-28 07:13:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 18,350
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16718782
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShortcakeCrow/pseuds/ShortcakeCrow
Summary: A test of courage turns ever so slightly more frightening when the class realises they've been trapped inside of a mansion rumored to be haunted and they find themselves being forced to play elimination party games. The last one standing shall be declared the winner.Luckily, cheating his way to victory is what Ouma Kokichi does best.





	1. We're trapped!?

It was a dark, moonless night - if it hadn’t been for the flashlights they were carrying, they more than likely wouldn’t have been able to see anything, being at a considerable distance from any kind of streetlights. At least the wind wasn’t too bad; Ouma adjusted the thick scarf wrapped around his neck as he examined the tall building in front of them.

It resembled a smaller mansion of some sort - the walls were all cracked, though, some of them even covered in greenery. Miraculously, some of the windows were still intact - law of averages, Ouma supposed. This really was the perfect place for a test of courage; he was fairly proud of himself for finding such a neat location.

Tuning out Shinguuji’s lengthy muttering about the history of the building and Momota’s nervous blabbering about how he _definitely_ wasn’t scared at all, Ouma went ahead and pushed the large door open - having to strain himself to do so thanks to how heavy it proved to be -, the metal hinges creaking loudly in the process. _Ouch_ , he clicked his tongue, stepping inside without hesitation, shining the flashlight around expectantly.

He heard Shirogane stammer something out about how they really shouldn’t have left without a teacher’s permission, but she was soon interrupted by an ear-piercing shriek, followed by the door slamming shut.

Ouma whipped around to witness Momota violently clinging to a very displeased Harukawa, rolling his eyes internally.

“Who did that!?” Akamatsu looked from person to person with a slight nervous twitch to her movements, trying her best to play it cool despite her obvious paranoia. Her question remained unanswered until Chabashira raised her voice to a shrill scream.

“I-it must’ve been Yumeno-san’s magic, surely! She’s just so amazing, isn’t she?” she let out a strained laugh.

“Nyeh!?” Yumeno’s eyes widened, and she grabbed onto her hat cautiously, as though she was planning to use it as some kind of weapon. “N-no, that… wasn’t me… I’ve already used up all my mana earlier…”

“O-oh, I see! B-but don’t worry, Yumeno-san, I’ll be sure to protect you n-no matter what!”

“There’s no need to worry, just as Tenko said!” Angie chimed in quite cheerfully, one of the few who were still maintaining their composure. “Atua will keep you all safe as long as you all remain loyal to him, after all!”

“I do not recall expressing such a sentiment towards your god, Angie-san,” Kiibo stated with a blank expression; before Angie could tell him off with one of her usual threatening smirks, Momota interrupted with another scream of his own.

“Dude, who cares about that right now? Which one of you assholes slammed the door!?” he demanded an answer, his voice cracking a little at that last part; finally managing to shove him off, Harukawa let out a tired sigh, wearing her usual scowl.

“I bet it was the fucking purple gremlin, wasn’t it?” Iruma gestured towards Ouma with a sneer, recoiling with a whimper immediately when the boy shot her down.

“Don’t be stupid, you _trashy bitch_ ,” he laughed cheerfully, cocking his head to the side. “I was the first one to enter, you know! You all saw me, didn’t you? So how could I have possibly snuck behind you guys like that?”

“That is a good point…” Kiibo mused, turning his attention back to the door. “Ouma-kun’s flashlight _was_ visible the entire time.”

“Couldn’t it have been from the wind, then?” Gonta suggested, seemingly trying his best to be helpful, but Saihara shook his head as he carefully peeked out from underneath his hat.

“The door was pretty heavy, wasn’t it…? And the wind outside wasn’t very strong…”

“S-screw this, I’m out!” Momota finally declared, throwing himself at the door to begin frantically pulling on the doorknob - to everyone’s surprise, though, it didn’t even budge. Momota grit his teeth as he tried over and over, staggering backwards once he’d finally given up, going visibly pale. “What the hell-?”

“Hah, typical male…” Tenko stepped up next, rolling up her sleeves to reveal her toned biceps with a proud grin. “Please watch me, Yumeno-san!”

Despite how much of a point she made to show off at the start, though, her attempts ended up unsuccessful as well, and she slumped down into a depressed little puddle in the corner as Yumeno tried her best to comfort her in her own little half-assed way.

“A-ahh, Gonta-kun should give it a shot!” Akamatsu gave said boy an encouraging pat on the back, stepping out of his way. “Surely, Gonta-kun should be able to do it…”

“Gonta will try his best!” came the hopeful answer, to which Akamatsu flashed a smile.

Once again, however, the door remained closed.

“Geez… This seems pretty hopeless, huh?” Ouma’s grin widened, unable to help finding himself intrigued by this new development - whoever was messing with them was definitely a fan of pranks, and a good prank was absolutely something he could appreciate. “I guess we’re stuck here forever!”

“Nooooo!” Momota cried out as he dropped to his knees.

“Shut up, you idiot,” Harukawa gave him a warning nudge with her shoe, placing her hands on her hips afterwards. “The windows are still an option, even if the door is jammed. It’s not like we’re in any danger.”

“Indeed,” Toujou nodded her head in approval. “It would be best for us all to keep calm. I cannot allow any of you to injure yourselves by accident, so if you require somebody to go outside and call for help, I will gladly accept the responsibility.”

“There’s no service here, so we’ll just have to make do with that, huh…” Saihara let out a quiet sigh.

“The test of courage isn’t called off just yet, of course!” Ouma declared, taking a few more steps inside before anyone else. “Time to look around!”

“H-hey, don’t just wander off on your own…!” Saihara called after him, being the second one to follow. “In this kind of situation, we should all stick together…”

“Oh, I don’t mind sticking with you, Saihara-chan, if you’re so desperate to accompany me!”

“Guys, wait!” Akamatsu looked helplessly between the group and the other two, taking a hesitant step herself.

“May I have your attention for a moment?”

Ouma stopped in his tracks, turning around lazily and craning his neck to see what Shinguuji wanted, addressing them all like that. Hopefully it was going to be information that would be actually useful, and not just one of his usual lectures; Ouma was ready to skip away if the second option turned out to be the case.

“There appears to be a note stuck to the door,” Shinguuji reached out to touch said paper, ripping it off soon enough and holding it out for the others to see.

“You didn’t just stick that on there, right…?” Akamatsu asked just in case, though she seemed like she knew the answer already.

“Shinguuji-kun would have had to walk past me to do that,” Kiibo took it upon himself to provide an answer, clearly quite proud of himself. “The ones closest to the door were Gonta-kun and Momota-kun.”

“It wasn’t me!” Momota immediately shot the accusation down, Gonta shaking his head along.

“Gonta didn’t do anything either!”

“Heh, I bet one of you is fuckin’ lying his teeth!” Iruma spat, presumably already having recovered from her little mood swing, but the other two didn’t budge in the slightest.

Ouma could always tell when someone was lying; it was quite obvious neither of them had a clue about the note.

“More importantly, what does it say?” Toujou lent her assistance by shining her flashlight on the paper so they could actually read it, Akamatsu being the one to read it out loud, for the ones that were further away.

_Welcome everyone! I’m very happy you all decided to visit me today. To show my gratitude, I’ve prepared several games for you to play with written instructions. Be sure to give it your all, okay?_

_Take your time if you want, though! Morning won’t come until there’s a winner, don’t worry._

“Is this some kind of joke…?” Harukawa rolled her eyes, not taking it seriously at all. “I’m not playing along with this…”

“D-don’t say that, Harumaki, you’ll be spirited away!” Momota pleaded, taking the note at its word without hesitation, shaking her by the shoulders right away.

“Let go of me, you moron! Do you wanna die?”

“Now, now, it won’t hurt to play along!” Angie giggled, swaying from side to side in excitement. “The ghosts here must be so lonely, they just want some company is all! I’m sure Atua will accept them into his kingdom if I just show them the way.”

“I’m not sure if you should be accepting this so easily…” Shirogane gave a shaky smile.

“Aw, come on, guys!” Ouma formed a megaphone with his hands around his mouth to catch their attention. “It wasn’t like the note was _threatening_ … Let’s just play along and see how it goes!”

“Ouma-kun…” Saihara attempted to scold him, but Ouma silenced him with a shush.

“What’s the worst thing that can happen?”

“That’s a flag right there…!” Shirogane gasped in shock.

“A flag!” Gonta echoed, despite having obviously no clue what she meant by that, moving to shield the people closest to him already, which just so happened to be a somewhat disgruntled Hoshi, and a still mortified Momota.

“Well, I really don’t think we have too much to worry about. If it really is a ghost, it could just kill us if it wanted to without making us play games.”

The strangely lighthearted statement came from a relaxed Amami standing in the center of the group, his hands leisurely shoved in his pockets. Ouma vigorously nodded along.

“If anything, we’d probably get killed if we don’t obey, or something like that,” Amami chuckled, soon approaching Ouma and Saihara at a comfortable pace. “I’m at least curious enough about it to investigate, either way.”

“Amami-kun does have a point there…” Akamatsu gripped her sweater nervously, and the rest of the group murmured along in reluctant agreement for the most part as they started to head after Amami one by one.

Momota was the last one to be convinced, Harukawa impatiently tapping her feet by his side, making sure to wait for him despite echoing how much she didn’t want to deal with this right now.

Ouma’s eyes were already sparkling mischievously.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the spiritual successor to my old ass ghost!kiibo fic maybe lol??? ill try not to make this too long but ive been wanting to write it for a really long time so i wanted to at least do one chapter for now  
> i might take my time with updates, idk yet, but if any of yall have seen my profile you know that i dont have a single unfinished work, so it wont be dropped no matter what, at the very least  
> ALSO LIKE its been so fucking long since i watched the japanese version of the game that i legit forgot how the characters refer to each other and had to google all the honorifics dfkjshjk


	2. Telephone game

As they would’ve thought, the mansion was not only incredibly dark, it was also filled with all sorts of scary sounds, and half the group proceeded to jump whenever they heard some kind of creaking nearby. Ouma was quite amused, of course, and would even occasionally take it upon himself to start flickering his flashlight, trying to mimic spooky supernatural happenings in the process.

He received a smack from Momota on the back of his head at one point.

Soon enough, climbing up a lengthy staircase lead them to a rather large hallway filled with a bunch of doors - while the ground floor had been mostly a single hall with a couple of smaller, unremarkable storages and whatnot, the second floor was already proving to be more interesting. Ouma whistled as he poked his head through one of the doors.

“Wow, guys, I already found the home of a certain _nasty cum dumpster_!”

Iruma squeaked in the back, and Toujou gave the boy a firm glare, immediately starting to lecture him on his language; Ouma snickered as he stepped out of the toilet, rushing ahead once again.

“I wonder if we’re supposed to check all of these rooms…” Akamatsu mused, brows still furrowed slightly in worry and unease.

“For now… it’s all we can do, right?” Saihara adjusted his hat carefully, trying his best not to let his guard down. “We might be able to find another exit as well…”

“That would be a bit too convenient…” Hoshi mumbled, to which Saihara’s lips twitched into an apologetic smile.

“In any case… I believe whoever is trying to play tricks on us would make sure we notice whatever they have prepared,” Kiibo spoke up, placing his hands on his hips. “I recall Ouma-kun saying something like that before - that ‘nothing is sadder than an unnoticed prank’.”

“Aww, you remembered!” Ouma grinned, clasping his hands together. “I guess even a robot can learn something this simple!”

“I request that you keep those kinds of remarks to yourself!” Kiibo immediately shot back, visibly defensive; Saihara gave him a small pat on the shoulder as an attempt at reassurance.

“I agree with that, to be honest,” Amami crossed his arms, his gaze thoughtfully gliding across the space. “There’s no harm in examining everything thoroughly, but we’ll probably notice anything we’re supposed to take note of. That note at the entrance was like that too, wasn’t it?”

“I guess that’s a good point…” Akamatsu bit her lip.

Amami did turn out to be correct, of course - Ouma had enough experience to have no doubts of his own, so it was only natural for him to be able to make these sorts of conclusions. Amami must have known that as well. If only the others had enough common sense to just trust his judgement without input from anyone else, huh?

Shining his light at the wall, Ouma let Amami lean over him to read the note stuck to it out loud for everyone else - which, to be fair, wasn’t exactly difficult with the height difference and all.

_If you’re reading this, you’ve reached the first stage!_

_You know the telephone game, don’t you? Sit down in your assigned seats, and the game will begin whenever you’re all ready. The youngest one should be the one to start!_

_The rules will be very simple. If someone messes up the phrase, they’re out, unless the person they whispered it to figures out the original phrase and manages to correct them. It’ll just be a single round, so don’t worry too much if you’re not that confident in your own abilities!_

“Telephone game…? Oh, the one where we need to whisper to each other, right?” Momota’s gaze darted between everyone in the room, having a deathgrip around a quite apathetic Harukawa.

“The youngest one… That’s Akamatsu-san, I think,” Shirogane tapped her chin slowly, and Akamatsu gave an uncertain nod.

“Then Akamatsu-chan has to come up with the phrase!” Ouma exclaimed, balancing on his heels. “Be sure to think of something _reaaaally_ funny, okay?”

“Good… If it’s Akamatsu, we can be sure it won’t be anything stupid,” Harukawa noted, though her expression remained grumpy. Still, despite her objections from before, it seemed like she would be willing to do the bare minimum to cooperate just so a certain someone would ease up on the overprotective attitude.

“Where are we supposed to sit, though? I don’t see any seats around…” Shirogane shone her flashlight around the room once again just in case; it was fairly large, but rather empty, with the only furniture inside being a single table at the opposite side.

As soon as she said that, though, the floor began shaking, and the ones who weren’t already holding onto a wall - or another person - had to make a considerable effort to balance themselves if they didn’t want to end up falling on their asses. Chabashira caught Yumeno just in time, proudly puffing her chest out afterwards as the smaller girl whimpered in her arms.

The ceiling opened up, 16 chairs dropping down one by one to form a perfect circle in the center of the room; Ouma whistled, ignoring the panicked screeches that surrounded him from almost every side.

“Geez, that scared me…!” Akamatsu let out a shaky sigh, craning her neck in an attempt to see where all the chairs had come from. “What was that about…?”

“It was Yumeno-san’s magic, of course, I’m sure! She must be trying her best to help us out even now!” Chabashira did her best to confidently reassure them all, Yumeno having given up on correcting her and simply responding with a weak ‘nyeehh’.

“It seems like each of these are labeled for one of us… How interesting,” Shinguuji remarked, busily examining the seats; Ouma wandered around the circle until he spotted the chair that belonged to him apparently.

“Oohh, I’m between Saihara-chan and Amami-chan! Lucky!”

He dove onto the chair soon enough, starting to swing his legs back and forth impatiently once he realised they _just barely_ didn’t reach the floor.

“Come on, guys, let’s start already! I bet this will be fun for everyone!”

“Aren’t you going to question this at all…?” Shirogane fiddled with her glasses, Saihara letting out a heavy sigh nearby.

“Well, this _is_ Ouma-kun we’re talking about…”

Despite all the bickering, though, it did seem like they were slowly willing to listen to him, even if it did take considerable pushing.

Amami didn’t need too much convincing; he sat down next to Ouma soon enough, leaning back comfortably as he waited for everyone else to settle down, just content with going with the flow for the time being. Saihara took his seat on Ouma’s other side, hands fidgeting nervously in his lap, only letting his posture relax a little once Kiibo sat down next to him as well.

It did take a pretty long time, but they managed to form a complete circle.

Akamatsu was on Amami’s other side, placing Ouma near the end of the round if they were going to go clockwise.

“A phrase, huh…” Akamatsu played with her hair, nervously glancing at Iruma in the neighbouring seat. It was clear she was nervous that the other girl would turn it into some kind of weird, gross or perverted phrase - that, or make fun of her for it. Fortunately the other person on Iruma’s side appeared to be Harukawa, who gave said girl a look dark enough to assure everyone else she wouldn’t get away with uttering anything even remotely indecent.

Akamatsu cleared her throat once she came to a conclusion, leaning closer to Iruma, cupping her hands around her mouth as she quietly whispered in her ear. Iruma let out another one of her weird squeals, presumably from the physical closeness, face heating up, but she had to swallow her commentary when Harukawa cracked her knuckles next to her, barely even brave enough to whisper to her next.

Harukawa’s expression remained the same when she turned to Momota, confirming the fact that Iruma was behaving herself, rolling her eyes when he gave her a shaky thumbs up, his face still visibly pale. Passing on the phrase, she crossed her legs afterwards with a quiet huff.

After Momota was Shirogane, who had to repeatedly shush an overly enthusiastic Chabashira, managing to get her to quiet down with great difficulty. Yumeno didn’t seem like she appreciated the overly loud whispering either, but unfortunately it seemed like she turned out to have the exact opposite problem, mumbling under her breath enough to cause Toujou next to her to frown slightly.

Apparently Chabashira’s attitude did turn out to have some benefits, since Toujou was presumably able to use bits she’d managed to overhear to properly put together the phrase Yumeno had given her, passing it on to a sheepish Gonta, who appeared to be a little embarrassed about having a lady whisper to him like that. After Gonta came Shinguuji, then Angie, then Hoshi, and then finally Kiibo.

Ouma could tell Saihara was still incredibly tense from everything that was happening, having to rely on the others’ presence to maintain his composure; his shoulders twitched when Kiibo whispered to him next, his cheeks also ever so slightly turning pink in the process; Ouma probably wouldn’t have even been able to pick up on it with such little light if they hadn’t been sitting right next to each other.

Saihara tapped him on the shoulder lightly, leaning closer with an uncertain expression.

“I- I tripped and fell- _s-stepped_ on a cat…”

He’d corrected himself mid-speech rather anxiously, drawing back afterwards with even more embarrassment about slipping up like that, burying his face in his hands, ignoring the looks of concern sent in his direction.

Ouma paused for a short moment, soon breaking into a mischievous smirk, behind his hand, arranging his expression into an innocent and cheerful smile as he proceeded to whisper the faulty phrase to Amami. They were just supposed to pass on what they heard, weren’t they? So it wasn’t against the rules if he was doing just that.

Amami gave him a flat look when he was finished, but Ouma only beamed at him in return.

“A-aahh, so close…!” Akamatsu exclaimed when she heard Amami speak out loud, letting out a sigh afterwards. Saihara sunk further in his seat, seemingly trying to melt into it. “Where did it get messed up…?”

“’I tripped and stepped on a cat’, right?” Kiibo raised his hand. “It was fine until it got to me, at least.”

“What, did Ouma trip over himself?” Momota laughed; apparently the one thing that allowed him to get over his fears temporarily was attempting to make fun of Ouma. “Shuuichi, don’t worry, I’m sure it wasn’t your fault!”

Saihara could only let out a strange, flustered whine.

“Nope, wasn’t me! I passed on _exactly_ what I heard!” Ouma shook his head, only to have Amami give him a small nudge.

“You shouldn’t be giving Saihara-kun such a hard time, Ouma-kun…”

“See, I knew it was Ouma after all!” Momota took that as a sign of him being right; Kiibo placed a hand on Saihara’s shoulder to mimic his attempts at comfort from before.

Soon enough, though, Saihara seemed to go still all of a sudden, slumping forward gradually, giving Kiibo just enough time to get up from his seat and grab him in a panicked manner to stop him from falling face first onto the floor.

“Saihara-kun!?”

The others all got up too, be it by jumping out suddenly or getting to their feet in a more dignified manner, starting to surround the detective, peering over each other’s shoulders with varied amounts of worry.

“What happened to Saihara-kun-?”

“ _Nyeh!?_ ”

“Shuuichi, don’t scare us like that…!”

“I don’t really think he did that on purpose, though, Momota-kun…”

“Is he okay?”

“He appears to still be breathing… and his pulse is fairly normal. I would imagine he’s fine.”

“But then why did he fall so suddenly like that…?”

“I think he’s passed out… From nerves, maybe…?”

“Still, to think that he’d lose consciousness so suddenly…”

Amami glanced back at the note they’d read before playing the game.

“Isn’t it because of the rules of the game…?” he suggested, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. “Saihara-kun made a mistake, so he was eliminated.”

“D-don’t use that word…! Saihara-kun is just unconscious, that’s all… right?” Akamatsu looked to the closest person to Saihara - who just so happened to be Kiibo, still holding onto him; he nodded his head in response.

“Saihara-kun does appear to be fine for the time being, fortunately…”

“We can’t just leave him here…” Momota rolled up his sleeves. “I’ll carry him, if Kiibo can’t.”

“Who said that I-“ Kiibo’s offended remark was cut off by himself once he realised that Momota was indeed right, and he lowered his head. “…Please be careful with him, in that case.”

“Of course I will, geez! I gotta take proper care of my sidekicks after all!”

“Don’t strain yourself, you idiot…” Harukawa grumbled, observing the scene off to the side. “You’re still sick, aren’t you…?”

“You don’t have to worry about me, Harumaki!” Momota flashed a bright grin as he scooped Saihara up into his arms. “I’m Momota Kaito, after all, Luminary of the Stars! I won’t let anyone stop me from protecting my friends, even if it’s a damn ghost!”

Even though he proclaimed that so dramatically, though, it didn’t stop him from freezing up in panic when Ouma snuck up on him with a loud ‘boo!’.

“Ouma-kun, stop doing that…” Akamatsu puffed her cheeks before she scolded him, crossing her arms afterwards. “Momota-kun, we’ll entrust Saihara-kun to you for now. Let’s all try to work together to avoid this happening to anyone else.”

“You all accepted the ghost explanation a bit too easily, if you ask me…” Shirogane mumbled weakly, but she didn’t seem to have any objections to Akamatsu’s proclamation.

The rest of them all seemed to be on the same page as well for the most part.

“Don’t worry, everyone! I’ll try my best to protect the girls with my Neo-Aikido too!”

“And Gonta will protect the boys, as a gentleman…!”

“I am not sure if that will be too much help against a threat that is not exactly physical, though…”

“Regardless, we should be moving on now, correct?” Toujou turned her head in the direction of the door. “I believe we should try to refrain from wasting too much time… for the sake of Saihara-san as well.”

“Yeah, you’re right…” Akamatsu nodded, taking it upon herself to walk ahead this time. “Let’s make sure we all get out of here together in one piece.”

Everyone followed after her one by one, until the only people left were Amami and Ouma, the latter curiously peering up at the former, who seemed to be deep in thought.

“Shouldn’t we go too, Amami-chan? We’ll get in trouble if we don’t follow the rules, _riiiight_?”

Amami automatically took a step forward at that, though it seemed like his mind only really caught up with what Ouma was saying a moment later. He gave him a firm look of disapproval.

“It would be too much to ask that you cooperate with everyone properly, huh…”

“Aww, don’t say it like that! I’m just playing around, you know!”

“Using that excuse again… I guess I’ll just have to do my best, then,” Amami let out a tired sigh, but soon gestured for him to come with. “Let’s go before we get left behind.”

Oho? Is that a challenge, perhaps?

Ouma didn’t hesitate to follow the taller boy.

If Amami wanted to keep him in line, that was fine! He would just have to find other ways to get around that - and for Ouma Kokichi, outsmarting other people was practically child’s play, no matter who his opponent happened to be.

He cheerfully skipped ahead, already eager to see what kind of a plan Amami had in mind.  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> momota (or anyone tbh) princess carrying saihara, reblog if u agree


	3. Never Have I Ever

Ouma and Amami stuck closely to each other, which the former didn’t mind in the slightest - _Amami-chan isn’t like the others, no, he actually makes an effort to properly understand me, and that’s what makes it so fun_.

It was rare that someone was able to peek behind the mask Ouma always wore, his thoughts and feelings hidden behind a carefully crafted web of lies - aside from Amami, Akamatsu and Saihara had been the only ones of his classmates to make any sort of progress. Ouma wasn’t exactly discouraged by that, though - if anything, it felt all the more reassuring that they kept trying over and over, letting him continue his little games without worry, and it was all the more rewarding whenever one of them would get a glint of satisfaction in their eyes upon being able to make an accurate deduction.

With Amami, though, it was more than that - because the boy seemed to have plenty of secrets of his own, improving the game hundredfold. Despite all the strange rumors floating around about him, he never really seemed bothered by them at all, and he rarely opened up about himself unless it involved flaunting one of the many miscellaneous skills he had.

Amami was exceptionally good at painting nails, earning a few jealous mutters from Shirogane and a look of admiration from Akamatsu the first time he had shown it off. He would help people style their hair too, even offering Shirogane assistance with one of her wigs - she had declined with a pout. While Ouma had never been to his room, despite having tried sneaking in there several times, he would occasionally leave with strange objects in his arms, referring to them as souvenirs, simply giving a lighthearted laugh whenever someone tried to question where he’d gotten them.

Ouma couldn’t just leave all these mysteries be, of course.

Amami’s brows furrowed lightly as he observed their surroundings, walking just a little behind the rest of the group at a comfortable pace, while Ouma switched periodically between rushing ahead and slowing down to let him catch up, like some kind of overexcited puppy on its first walk. If Amami was annoyed by it at all, it didn’t show on his face - someone who _did_ find it pretty irritating though, was Momota, seeing as how Ouma had almost crashed into him a few times.

Ouma only smiled innocently at the accusations thrown his way; if he were to actually bump into Momota, he would have surely dropped Saihara in the process, and there was no way he’d ever let Saihara get hurt on purpose, nu-uh! It was a shame that his reasoning didn’t seem to be enough for such a hotheaded guy.

Akamatsu was at the front of the group, occasionally glancing back to make sure everyone was still following, doing her best to lead everyone despite her own, clearly visible nerves. Toujou was closely following behind, intent on fulfilling her role as ‘group mom’, keeping a watch over everyone else now that Ouma was being monitored properly.

It almost felt like they’d formed some kind of weird formation, preparing for an enemy attack.

“Nyeehh… Just a little more…” Yumeno muttered, clinging to Chabashira like she was trying to use her as a meat shield - the taller girl most definitely wouldn’t have minded that kind of intent. “I just need a bit more mana, and I’ll be able to cast an exorcism spell…!”

Chabashira cheered her on quite cheerfully.

“If you’re going to do that, can’t you hurry up with that?” Momota quickly asked, already latching onto the idea; no matter how many heroic speeches he was going to give, he was still quite obviously terrified by the idea of some kind of spirit following them. Ouma gave him a few cheerful pats on the back, ducking out of the way just in time before Harukawa could smack him across the face, albeit her nails still managing to graze his cheek lightly.

She clicked her tongue in displeasure.

“I’m trying, I’m trying…! If you think my magic is so easy, why don’t you do it yourself?” Yumeno puffed her cheeks out like an angry squirrel, wagging her index finger in disapproval. “Even if I am the Ultimate Mage, magic isn’t child’s play like that. Powerful spells take a really long time to charge…”

“You should have thought ahead and brought some potions, in that case!” Shirogane exclaimed, adjusting her glasses dramatically afterwards. “That should’ve been plain obvious.”

“Nyeeh…!” came the upset response.

“Alright, guys, stop arguing,” Akamatsu raised her voice slightly so even the ones in the back could hear her properly before she poked her head into one of the rooms, straightening her back again soon enough. “I think we should be focusing on investigating this place for now.”

“Is it just me, or does this mansion seem a lot bigger than it appeared to be on the outside…?” Kiibo asked, keeping a close enough distance to Momota to be able to consistently reassure himself that Saihara was still doing fine, but far enough to be out of Ouma’s immediate reach in case he felt like quite literally pushing his buttons or yanking his hair.

He was right, though - it had been pretty hard to see in the dark, but Ouma was definitely starting to feel like something was very much off about the layout of the building.

“Just like Bakamatsu’s holes!” Iruma whistled, receiving an outraged shriek from an immediately red-faced Akamatsu.

“It was probably just a trick of the eye…” Harukawa shrugged, attitude as uncaring as it could get. “There’s not much point getting worked up about it.”

“There are many kinds of spirits that are said to be able to manipulate time or space…” Shinguuji murmured, tugging his bandages tighter around his hands. “It would be foolish to immediately brush this off as a simple hallucination… especially if it is present with several of us.”

“It’s like when you enter a house in an RPG and the map suddenly gets way bigger than it should be…” Shirogane remarked, one of her fingers slowly finding its way to her lips, ready to bite down on her nail.

“If this is an RPG, you guys are some pretty useless NPCs!” Ouma chimed in, folding his arms behind his head. “Where are all the hints about the story and the big plot twist?”

“If you really want a twist, I can twist your neck for you,” Harukawa offered.

“No thanks! You’re not my type at all unfortunately. I’m sure the _bitchlet_ Iruma-chan would enjoy it, though, if Momota-chan isn’t into it!”

Before Harukawa could embed her flashlight in his skull, they were interrupted by Toujou’s voice.

“Everyone, may I have your attention? I believe I found another note.”

Grabbing Amami by the wrist, Ouma paid no mind to the boy’s slightly baffled expression as he dragged him over, wanting to get a look at it himself.

_I’m glad you guys decided to play along! I would’ve been kind of sad if I’d gone through the trouble of preparing all that, only for it to go ignored, you know? I know you guys are still kind of tense and all, but feel free to relax, really. Games aren’t supposed to be stressful._

_Also, don’t worry about Saihara-kun. The sofas here are pretty cozy so you can just leave him on one for the time being. He’ll wake up once game night is over._

_And please keep an eye on Ouma-kun! I want to have fun together with everyone, but that’ll be hard if Ouma-kun keeps bullying people._

_Putting that aside… let’s make our next game Never Have I Ever. The stress element should be lower this time, hopefully! Each of you will get a turn to ask a question. Anyone that puts down 5 fingers before the game ends is out. Oh, and try not to make obviously ridiculous statements, okay? Because if yours doesn’t apply to anyone, you’ll have to be the one to put a finger down._

“Are we supposed to just play this in the hallway…?”

“I don’t know about you, Akamatsu-chan, but those sofas do look pretty comfy!”

“This does seem more like a lounge than some kind of hallway…” Amami mused, lifting his gaze soon, only for it to settle on Momota. “Momota-kun, how about putting Saihara-kun down for a bit like the note suggested?”

“No way!” Momota recoiled, visibly outraged. “I’m not letting that damn ghost get to Shuuichi!”

“The note didn’t sound threatening at all, though…” Akamatsu bit her lip. “Even if it’s really a ghost, are you sure it’s dangerous…?”

“That’s exactly how they lure you in, Akamatsu!”

“That’s not what Atua told me!” Angie chirped, leaning forward with her fingers laced together behind her back. “Atua wants us all to play along, yes! As long as we play by the rules, we’ll be juuuust fine!”

“As if I’d believe that!” Momota scowled, securing his hold on Saihara further. “There’s no way I’m going to play along with a stupid game like this!”

As soon as he said that, he suddenly began swaying on his feet, Saihara falling from his arms; Kiibo threw himself onto the floor in a panicked manner to try to cushion the detective’s landing, not realising that his metal exterior probably made it worse than the carpeting would have.

Harukawa caught Momota, her brows knitted together in worry for once as she shook him gently at first until it gradually escalated to straight up trying to slap him awake. It was no use, though; he really was out cold.

Ouma crouched down next to Kiibo, wearing a wide grin.

“Finally embracing your destiny as a Roomba?”

“I will not let that kind of comment slide!” Kiibo groaned, managing to carefully wiggle out from underneath the unconscious boy, attempting to lift him afterwards. “B-before that, though, Saihara-kun-“

They thought they heard some kind of crack - Kiibo soon doubled over with a pained yelp.

“My back…”

“Don’t worry, Gonta will take care of Saihara-kun,” Gonta reassured the now dejected robot, scooping Saihara up into his arms with no sweat, soon carrying him over to one of the sofas and gently placing him down. That might really have been for the best as well, as Saihara’s frown of discomfort mellowed out relatively soon after that, and he finally stopped shifting around in his sleep.

“I should upgrade your body to be stronger, Kiibo! Or better yet, you want some fuckin’ tentacles for grabbing? Shittyhara’s such a perv, I bet he’d totally be into that-“

“I refuse to accept that kind of upgrade…!”

“Harukawa-san, how is Momota-kun?” Akamatsu inquired carefully, ignoring the bickering for the time being, much too concerned to even try to pay attention to that. “He’s okay, right…?”

“He seems fine…” Harukawa muttered before promptly lifting him into her arms with the ease of lifting a stuffed animal. “His pulse is normal… and he’s making that annoying face he always does whenever he dozes off.”

“Oh wow, you’re right,” Ouma peered over her shoulder. “NPC Momota-chan is even uglier in his sleep, it seems.”

A kick to the shin caused him to stagger backwards, and he probably would’ve fallen flat on his ass if he hadn’t bumped into Amami in the process, the taller boy steadying him without thinking.

One of his hands was left on Ouma’s shoulder.

“That might have happened because he said he wasn’t going to play… He fainted just like Saihara-kun did earlier, didn’t he?” Amami recalled, though the question had an answer obvious enough that nobody bothered responding. “If that’s the case, we might really have no choice but to play along.”

“Looks like he still had a ways to go…” Hoshi remarked quietly in the corner; apparently he had nothing else to add to the conversation aside from a snarky one-liner… at first, at least. “Looks like we better play by the rules, then.”

“That does seem to be the preferable option…” Toujou nodded her head as well. “Now then, let us all take a seat. In the case of this kind of incident repeating itself, any possible injury will be easier to avoid that way.”

“Agreed,” Amami was already steering Ouma towards a sofa, sitting him down with a stern, but silent look, like he was handling a mischievous toddler.

“Can’t we just knock Ouma out or something? I bet that fucking dickless midget is planning to fuck us all again!”

“You should shut that dirty whore mouth of yours before Bakamatsu-chan washes it out with soap!” Ouma shouted back cheerfully, receiving a squeak in return.

“No… We should try to make sure to all work together,” Akamatsu pursed her lips. “Amami-kun should be taking care of Ouma-kun for now, so let’s just believe in him… b-but no matter what, violence isn’t allowed, okay?”

“…I agree with that. No matter how cruel Ouma-kun can be, we would be just as bad if we sunk to his level.”

“Silly Kiiboy, you don’t have to worry about that! You’re just a robot, so you don’t have to take responsibility for the silly little commands that have been shoved into your tin can head!”

“…Every day, I am subjected to the same test of patience and goodwill…”

And with that, the game began.

It started out pretty innocently as the more good-natured ones spoke up first, taking Akamatsu’s advice and just focusing on steering clear of most of the class. They were supposed to cooperate, yeah - as long as they all worked together, they could let everyone last through the round, right?

But then, Iruma put down one more finger, and another, and another - of course, each time after someone described an _incredibly specific_ and _most definitely inappropriate in Iruma’s case_ scenario.

“Nyeehhh…” Yumeno pulled her hat lower over her face. “That wasn’t my fault…! How was I supposed to know she’d wet herself in public!?”

“I really don’t think we needed to know that about you either, though…” Shirogane noted with a shaky smile.

“It’s Shinguuji’s fault, dammit!” Iruma shrieked, writhing in her seat like some kind of oversized caterpillar. “Who _hasn’t_ gotten tied up at least once to fuckin’ try it!?”

“Apparently everyone else aside from you two…!” Akamatsu buried her face in her hands in embarrassment.

“Kukuku. Humanity is truly beautiful.”

“You zip your mouth shut before I shove my dick down your throat!”

“Is Iruma-san actually a boy!? Gonta is sorry! Gonta didn’t know!”

“No, you dumdum, of course she doesn’t have a dick! She’s just like Kiiboy in that sense!”

“On second thought, I really would not mind if Iruma-san and Ouma-kun were silenced for a little while…!” Kiibo squeezed his hands over his ears - headphones…? -, trying to block out all the inappropriate comments. “Akamatsu-san, please do something…!”

“M-me!?” Akamatsu stammered, letting out a nervous hiccup. “I’ve already had my turn-“

“As have I…” Toujou let out a regretful sigh, “otherwise I would take care of this matter myself.”

“Wow… you guys sure turned against me fast,” the corners of Ouma’s mouth curved downwards in a comically exaggerated manner, his lips startling to quiver. “I thought we were friends… Y-you guys… You’re all s-so mean to me!”

He began crying loudly, causing Kiibo to clutch his headphone-ears tighter.

“In any case…!” he stopped the wailing just as suddenly as it had begun, not even bothering to wipe the fake tears from his cheeks. “I’ll take care of Iruma-chan for you, don’t worry! But you guys better be grateful to me, okay?”

All the people who have had their turn until now - with the exception of Shinguuji and Yumeno… and some weird obscure anime reference by Shirogane - had stated fairly mundane things. Chabashira had gotten close to blurting out some _most definitely inappropriate_ comment about Yumeno, but she’d forced it down after she received a worried ‘nyeehh’, still keeping the game fairly normal.

The only ones left were Ouma, Amami, and Harukawa - the latter more occupied with keeping watch over Momota than anything, barely even paying attention to the game. Aside from Iruma, Yumeno also had one more chance left, her hand lazily forming a loose thumbs up in her lap as a representation of that.

Ohoho…? It would be a shame not to take advantage of that, right? Actually, it would probably be a lot more fun to just put everyone at once on edge - ‘never have I ever been in the same room as Ouma Kokichi’, that would be so childish, but also so stupidly perfect.

He cleared his throat dramatically before he opened his mouth… only for Amami to clamp his hand over it.

“Never have I ever laid my head in Akamatsu Kaede’s lap,” he spoke clearly, his gaze settled on Iruma; the girl soon fell limp, her head slumping forward, starting to make some gross snoring sounds.

Alongside her, though… Harukawa finally put down one of her fingers, and Yumeno’s head lolled onto Chabashira’s shoulder, her hat gradually slipping from her head as she lost consciousness.

“Oooh, Bakamatsu-chan has a harem!” Ouma exclaimed - or… at least tried to, but Amami hadn’t removed his hand, so all that came out was some muffled, unintelligible mess. Even without that comment, though, Akamatsu’s face heated up rapidly, and she began wildly gesturing with her hands, making excuse after excuse.

“I- I can explain…! It was just some friendly bonding, that’s all-“ she almost bit her tongue, and she rapidly shook her head to try to snap herself out of her little panic.

“I can believe that for _Harumaki-chan_ , maybe, but what about everyone else, hmm?” Ouma finally managed to pry Amami’s hand off, an impish grin plastered on his face. “I bet Saihara-chan has gotten to take advantage of those protagonist thighs too!”

_More importantly, how exactly did Amami-chan know that?_

“Saihara-kun has done no such thing!” Kiibo objected immediately, even though he clearly wasn’t sure about what that might have been referring to.

“Aaahh, stop!” Akamatsu covered her face with her hands once again. “I just read some article about how it was supposed to get friends closer together…!”

“Closer to the bone zone, sure!” Ouma managed to add, before Amami pinned him down once again.

“Ouma-kun, I’m serious-“

“I’m so jealous…!” Chabashira grit her teeth, clutching her chest as though she’d just gotten stabbed. “Yumeno-san’s soft cheeks in my lap…”

She let out an ungodly screech as Yumeno’s head slowly slid down her arm, landing exactly in her lap.

“In any case…” Akamatsu groaned, peering at Harukawa from between her fingers, her voice weak. “Harukawa-san… you still have your turn left…”

“Even so, I can’t do much about Ouma by now, you know…” Harukawa responded with narrowed eyes, automatically assuming Akamatsu was requesting that of her; her gaze soon glided over to the boy in question, and she clicked her tongue in annoyance.

Even if she couldn’t knock him out of the game, she was apparently still going to take a jab at him, at the very least.

“Never have I ever screamed in the courtyard at sunrise.”

In Ouma’s defense, it was pretty hard to keep quiet when a bit _overly enthusiastic_ Gonta was chasing him to question him about why exactly he’d lied to him about Momota hating butterflies.

Chabashira also put one of her fingers down absentmindedly, still frozen stiff, and everyone was reminded of the time they awoke to the sound of her trying to serenade Yumeno at the _asscrack of dawn._

“Behave yourself, now, won’t you?” Amami’s request was an earnest one when he finally let go of him - he should’ve known that would only tempt Ouma to misbehave more. It was as if he’d just told a child not to touch the plate of freshly baked cookies he’d laid onto the table right in front of him.

And yet, Ouma didn’t respond with a childish retort.

“Well, if my dearest Amami-chan is asking so nicely…” he beamed back innocently, soon leaning on his hand. He wasn’t quite sure himself why or how just yet, but something about the genuine tone had managed to prod at one of the few soft spots he still had, so he was willing to make an exception just this once.

That said, Chabashira was still incredibly obnoxious.

“Never have I ever had Yumeno Himiko lay her head in my lap,” he mimicked Amami’s question with an almost mocking tone, and Chabashira promptly fell silent, her quiet whimpers gone.

Ah… silence. How pleasant.

Akamatsu didn’t even bother to put down a finger by that point, as, with Ouma’s turn, the game had finished.

Amami only let out a soft sigh, but Ouma could tell he wasn’t going to be blamed for that kind of cheeky move, and the thought that even _mature, composed honor student_ Amami would overlook him picking on Chabashira just because it was _her_ almost sent him into a fit of giggles.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HDDKJ I THOUGHT FOR SURE ID GET LIKE,, RLLY BORED OF WRITING THIS AND ID NEED TO FORCE MYSELF cuz ive been getting super tired of longfics hjdkfhkj BUT NOPE id have probably updated this in like a single day if i had the time to just write it all day long cuz its been rlly fun so far
> 
> also i like how in my first v3 fics i was still trying to keep things pg-13 but by now ive just given up and write dialogue straight up about dicks, thats progress, fucking fantastic
> 
> imma try to keep dropping hints about the whole ghost thing as we go along 👀 there was actually a lot of subtle stuff this chapter that most people probably wont pick up on but i had fun adding it in anyway dhsjkfhk
> 
> also if there are any typos pls tell me cuz i wrote the last part v late at night bc i rlly wanted to finish it so i was super tired


	4. Truth or dare

Even though Gonta had so graciously offered to simply carry everyone on his back, they ended up leaving the asleep ones behind to keep them from getting hurt - granted, Harukawa did almost drag Momota after everyone else, but Akamatsu had managed to convince her that they could just come back for everybody later.

Well, if there _would_ be a later, that is- Ouma received a smack when he implied said thing, creepily illuminating his face with the flashlight from below. It seemed like Harukawa was becoming increasingly less patient with him, and since he still valued having a head on top of his neck, his teasing gradually subsided in favor of bugging Amami instead.

“Sooo, Amami-chan… What kind of ghost do you think we’re dealing with?” he grinned as he paced circles around the other boy, repeatedly getting in his way, as he was just trying to follow everyone else. Amami opened his mouth with a small frown, but soon closed it once again - possibly after concluding that requesting Ouma to stop would only make him switch to some other annoying activity -, and he took another moment to think before he responded.

“From the looks of it, it only wants to play… so maybe it’s just some kind of lonely spirit that wants some company. People _do_ come here very rarely.”

“Oooh, is that so? How do you know it’s not just trying to lure you into a false sense of security?” Ouma tiptoed around him. “You’ll let your guard down, and before you know it, you’ll be _chomped!_ ” he punctuated the sentence by suddenly grabbing the taller boy around the waist from behind, causing him to stiffen briefly.

“Spirits aren’t all malicious by nature… It is quite foolish to assume so,” Shinguuji chimed in, stroking his mask slowly, having been quietly listening in on the conversation. “My dear sister, for one-“

“Nobody wants to hear about your creepy sister complex!” Ouma shot him down with a childish pout, ignoring the murmured lecture that soon began; he yanked Amami’s hand to go faster.

“If it really is a spirit, we’ll be dead even if we don’t lower our guards…” Amami sighed, letting Ouma tug him forward like some kind of oversized plushie. “We just have to believe it’s harmless. I wonder why it’s not just showing itself to us, though…”

“Obviously to stop the crybabies from fainting,” Ouma replied cheerfully, tilting his head to the side. “Or, who knows, maybe it’s just shy because nobody ever comes here! Or…”

He shone the flashlight below his chin once again, his lips stretching into an unnervingly wide smile.

“Maybe it’s already hidden itself as one of us…”

His voice had barely been above a whisper to assist with the effect he was trying to achieve, and something unreadable soon flashed across Amami’s features before he quickly composed himself once again.

“Let’s just hope that’s not the case.”

“Aww, did I scare you?” Ouma giggled, toying with the flashlight now, tossing it from hand to hand. “That was just a lie, don’t worry! I’m sure all of us are still alive; we’re all solid, after all.”

As if to prove his point, he wrapped his arms around one of the boy’s own, starting to cling.

“But I’m sure Amami-chan will protect me if anything like that happens!”

“I’ll try, if you don’t cut off my circulation until then,” came the relaxed retort.

“What are you guys whispering about back there…?” Akamatsu glanced back with mild worry, as usual. “Amami-kun, Ouma-kun isn’t up to something again, is he?”

“Oh, he’s just offering me up to be his meat shield, don’t worry about it,” Amami waved off her concerns with his free hand.

“We were talking about our ghost friend,” Ouma chirped, expression completely innocent. “Does Akamatsu-chan have any theories to share with us?”

“Theories…? N-no, not really…” she shook her head slowly. “Aside from the obvious, that is…”

“That is?”

“Well-“ Akamatsu nervously gestured at their surroundings. “If the ghost is haunting this place, then it probably used to live here, right? So maybe it’s the past owner or something…”

“It is also quite possible that they simply passed away here,” Shinguuji was, once again, quick to provide his own input. “Or that a spirit medium summoned them here, causing them to possess the body and wander these halls…”

“B-but none of us are possessed, right?” Akamatsu was quick to ask, rapidly glancing at each person one by one. “I mean, nobody has been acting weirdly or anything… I don’t think…”

“I have been unable to observe any unusual behavior,” Kiibo assured her. “It is unlikely any of us are under the influence of an entity of that sort.”

“Then maybe Kiiboy is the one who’s possessed!” Ouma exclaimed, earning an offended gasp.

“How dare you imply such a thing! You only said that because I am a robot, I bet-“

“Ohhh, right… Robots can’t get possessed. Sorry, I forgot I was dealing with a glorified Roomba here.”

“I… I object…! You have no proof that robots cannot get possessed-“

“Well, I mean… if it’s possible for a human, I don’t see why it wouldn’t be possible for a robot…” Akamatsu bit her lip, and Kiibo nodded vigorously.

“See? Akamatsu-san agrees with me as well!”

“Alright, alright, if Kiiboy wants to be the traitor here so badly, then that’s fine with me,” Ouma beamed, clapping his hands together. “Come on, guys, let’s restrain him! Even if you rip off a limb or two, Iruma-chan can replace it later!”

Kiibo took several steps back with a shriek, seemingly genuinely convinced for a second that everyone was going to start ganging up on him.

“Huh? Is Kiibo bad…?” Gonta turned his head from one person to another in a perplexed manner.

“Ahaha, of course not, that’s just Ouma-kun messing with us again!” Akamatsu gave a forced laugh, turning to Kiibo afterwards with a lot less certain expression. “R-right, Kiibo-kun…?”

Kiibo slumped forward in a dejected manner.

“So… even Akamatsu-san is starting to display some robophobia of her own…”

“No, that’s not it, that’s not- I’m sorry, please don’t feel bad…!”

“You guys are so noisy…” Harukawa grumbled, clicking her tongue.

Akamatsu and Kiibo simultaneously stammered out an apology, but there was no reaction to it on Harukawa’s part as she climbed up the staircase that lay before them; her frown deepened, but whatever observations she was making she didn’t seem like she was going to let anyone else know.

Ouma didn’t need her input anyway.

The next place where they found a note was a hall with, once again, a bunch of chairs placed in a circle. In the middle of it all was an empty bottle, presumably having been filled with liquor before. Angie eagerly turned it upside down to see if there was anything still in it, only to have Toujou pluck it out of her hands.

“Even if this wasn’t alcohol, it would not be advisable for you to drink something that could possibly be contaminated or otherwise dangerous, Yonaga-san.”

“I was just investigating, Kirumi,” she pouted, getting up from her crouched pose to skip around the room next. “This looks like a veeeery important room, yep! Atua told me, so I can tell.”

“I don’t think you should need Atua to tell you that…” Shirogane remarked quietly, slowly spinning around to examine their surroundings; her eyes lit up when she spotted another piece of paper stuck on the wall. “Everyone, I found another note!”

“Let me see that,” Harukawa gently but firmly steered her out of the way to peer at the note herself, Toujou reading it out for everyone in her stead.

_You guys are really curious about me, huh… I guess that’s a given. But, still, I can’t tell you too much about myself or you guys might get too suspicious!_

_I guess I can let you have a small hint at the next stage if you play nicely this round, though._

_It’s time for truth or dare! Everyone will get a single turn as usual. Please use the bottle to randomly select whose turn it is next!_

_PS.: Spinning the bottle again before the person has performed their dare or given their answer yet is prohibited, unless it lands on somebody who has already had their turn._

“Would the… _ghost_ even know if one of us was lying…?” Akamatsu’s face scrunched up slightly as she stared at the note rather intently.

“Oh, don’t worry! I’ll be sure to lie when it’s my turn and test it out for you,” Ouma declared, giving her several small pats on the shoulder. Kiibo shook his head with an incredulous look.

“If you say it out loud like that, that already defeats the purpose of it…”

 “Well, this should be fine too… We can all just ask really easy questions, right?” Shirogane glanced around for agreement.

“That would be the most simple solution, indeed…” Shinguuji murmured. “This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, however… Isn’t there something you’re just itching to know about everyone here?”

Shirogane swallowed quietly, her face giving away the reply she’d otherwise kept to herself.

“Agreed!” Angie raised her hand enthusiastically. “But, of course, Atua already knows everything there is to know about you all, so that will only be a formality for me.”

“I have nothing to hide, of course,” Kiibo stated confidently, puffing out his chest. “All of you are my trusted friends here… for the most part, so I will tell you anything you wish to know about me.”

“’For the most part’, huh…” Akamatsu echoed before clearing her throat. “Perverted questions or dares won’t be allowed, okay? I’ll remember it if any of you tries something- I’m looking at you three in particular, Ouma-kun, Shinguuji-kun and Angie-san…!”

“Why, I would never…” Shinguuji shook his head, unfazed by the accusation. “While I would be thrilled to thrilled to partake in that form of intimate activity, I wouldn’t dream of doing such a thing without being assured of our mutual enjoyment of it first. That is the appropriate thing to do, after all, yes?”

“Aww, bummer!” Ouma’s head hung low. “I was totally gonna ask what color Amami-chan’s panties were…”

“Panties-? Is Amami-kun actually a lady!?” Gonta exclaimed in shock.

“Haven’t we been over this already…?” Shirogane tilted her head with an uncertain smile.

Harukawa impatiently took a seat as she waited for the rest to stop bickering.

It took a while, but they did all settle down in the end, Toujou acting as some kind of mother duck and steering each person to their assigned chair one by one. Ouma hopped down onto his own with a grin, nestled inbetween Akamatsu and Shirogane, Harukawa on his opposite side, far enough that he wouldn’t need to worry about being smacked unless he started picking on her again.

Amami sat on Akamatsu’s other side, his arms leisurely crossed across his chest, observing the boy from the corner of his eye.

“Allow me to go first,” Toujou, having still been holding onto the bottle, finally sat down as well. “I do not believe the rules specified who has to be the one to start.”

“Yeah, that should be fine,” Akamatsu smiled, giving her the okay; the rest of the group mumbled their own agreements.

Toujou leaned forward to place the bottle back onto the floor - somehow still managing to look gracious despite her unconventional pose -, and spun it with ease, straightening back in her seat with her hands in her lap as she waited patiently to see who it would land on.

“Hmph… I see it’s already my time.”

Hoshi’s usual melodramatic tone felt incredibly out of place even now.

“I promised myself I wouldn’t run away anymore… so I’m ready for whatever you have in mind, Toujou,” he tugged his hat lower over his face, peering out from underneath, somehow managing to look just a tad menacing despite his size. “Dare. Do your worst.”

“Is that an order, I wonder?” Toujou tapped her chin lightly; even though she was by far the most dependable one in the room, some of the group couldn’t help but hold their breath a little, her mannerisms hard enough to read to make it just a bit more difficult to predict what she was going to do. “I thought we agreed to go easy on each other.”

“Seems like you still got a ways to go… I wouldn’t accept something like that… not anymore. Because that just wouldn’t be cool.”

If Momota was here, he would’ve agreed with an obnoxious victory cry.

“Very well, then… I wish to indulge my own desires, in that case,” Toujou closed her eyes momentarily, sorting through her thoughts for a short few seconds before opening them again. “I apologise for being so forward, however… I wish for you to let me pat your head.”

Ouma was about to start laughing hysterically when Amami tapped Akamatsu’s shoulder lightly as a warning, and she quickly proceeded to cover Ouma’s mouth, not wanting him to ruin… whatever this was.

Hoshi seemed quite a bit taken aback at first as well, to be fair.

“Please do not read too much into my request,” Toujou bowed her head slightly.

Shirogane whispered something under her breath, Ouma able to pick out the phrase ‘group mom’ before she went quiet again, leaning forward ever so slightly, eager to observe.

“I know that… You’re not that kind of person,” Hoshi muttered, getting up from his seat soon enough. “And I’m not the kind of man who would go back on his word.”

He walked over to Toujou with his hands in his pockets, soon withdrawing a candy cigarette to dramatically place in his mouth.

Raising a hand, Toujou proceeded to give his head a few soft pats.

Shirogane clutched her chest with both hands at once.

Hoshi backed off to walk over to the bottle once Toujou seemed like she’d had enough, both of their faces completely neutral as though nothing had just happened.

“I feel as though I just witnessed something intimate…” Kiibo mumbled out, his collar having started to cover his face a little.

He wasn’t rewarded with a reply to that.

Hoshi’s spin had landed on Gonta, who picked dare pretty eagerly, possibly expecting to receive some kind of affection himself, seeing as how he didn’t seem to have grasped the rules entirely just yet. Whether it was because Hoshi felt bad, they couldn’t be sure, but Gonta’s mood was soon soaring through the sky when he received his own set of pats - granted he did need to get on his knees, and even then it still proved to be somewhat difficult.

“This game is fun!” he cheered, Shirogane once again in the process of melting from what she was perceiving as ‘way too moe’.

Fortunately this little pat-train they had started seemed to diffuse Angie as well, and after Gonta patted her on the head, she gave him a big hug in return.

“Booooring…” Ouma yawned in an exaggerated manner, crossing his arms impatiently. “Where are the thrills? The chills? The _kills_?”

“One of those sounds pretty out of place…” Shirogane adjusted her glasses anxiously.

“Oh, whatever! If you guys wanna hug it out, you can do it outside of the game too, you know…”

The bottle was pointing at him when it stopped, and he thrust his arms into the air.

“I’ll show you guys how this game is supposed to be played!”

His arms dropped back down.

“…After we get this out of the way quickly first. Truth.”

“Nyahaha! If Kokichi is so eager, I’ll go ahead and get right to it, then!” Angie bounced on her chair, eagerly inquiring soon enough. “What’s the deepest desire of your heart right now?”

“Are you trying to convert me? Just a nice bottle of panta will do, thanks.”

The silence afterwards didn’t last for long.

“He sure is simpleminded…” Amami remarked.

“Are we sure that wasn’t just a lie…?” Shirogane questioned, fidgeting a little. “He did say he would lie during his turn…”

“He appears to be fine, though…” Kiibo narrowed his eyes lightly. “Then again, this is Ouma-kun we are talking about… I am not sure if we can take him at his word so easily.”

“Come to think of it… I could do with something to drink too…” Akamatsu let out a soft sigh. “I didn’t think we’d be here for this long, so I didn’t bring anything…”

Angie leaned back in her seat as she raised her arms into the air; apparently she got past her disappointment over the simple answer this fast already.

“There’s nothing to fear; Atua will soon gift us all with refreshments, as long as your faith in him remains strong.”

“Gee, he should hurry up with that, then. And I won’t just take any cheap panta-knockoff; I want the real deal!”

“The sooner you spin that, the sooner you can have a drink, Ouma-kun…” Akamatsu gave him a small nudge, and he shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly before leaning forward.

Might as well see how flexible the rules were going to get by this point.

He spun the bottle with ease, but before it could stop on its own, he placed his foot down in its way, causing it to end up pointing at a momentarily frozen stiff Kiibo; after waiting for a few seconds to make sure that he’d be fine, Ouma’s lips stretched into a devilish grin.

“Well, I guess I’m not gonna get punished unless I break a rule that’s written on those notes, huh?”

“Geez, Ouma-kun, you can’t just do that…” Akamatsu objected, getting up to spin the bottle in his stead once again, taking it upon herself to correct it, ducking out of the hand Amami had stretched towards her shoulder.

“Akamatsu-san, I’m not sure if that’s a good idea…”

“If Ouma-kun is cheating, I’m sure it’s fine,” she insisted, starting to spin it already. “We shouldn’t just let him do that, or… he’ll never…”

Amami managed to catch her just in time as she slumped forward, stopping her from smacking her face into the floor.

“Is Akamatsu-san okay?” Toujou peered over his shoulder, appearing beside him in the blink of an eye. Amami nodded his head slowly.

“Seems like she’s just asleep like the others.”

“Thank goodness…” Toujou breathed a sigh of relief; she seemed to have overtaken Akamatsu’s role as the ‘leader’ after the other girl had passed out. She pursed her lips briefly. “Allow me to carry her to safety for the time being. You may continue the game without me for now.”

“That’s no good,” Amami shook his head, gathering up Akamatsu in his arms before getting to his feet. “You haven’t had your turn yet, Toujou-san. Let’s not risk something happening to you too.”

“…You bring up a fair point,” Toujou lowered her head slightly, her frown deepening. After a moment, she turned to Gonta. “Gokuhara-kun, could you keep Akamatsu-san safe for us? It would be best if you could find somewhere she can comfortably recline or lie down.”

“Oh, Gonta understands,” Gonta nodded his head several times, already holding out his hands; Amami carefully handed Akamatsu over, digging through his hair afterwards with a somewhat troubled expression. “Gonta will make sure Akamatsu-san is safe, don’t worry.”

“The rest of us should continue playing, I suppose…” Toujou’s eyes narrowed a little as her gaze settled on Ouma. The boy only smiled back.

He hadn’t exactly meant for Akamatsu to be out so soon as well, but it wasn’t like there was anything he could do about it now. Besides, she was the one who broke the rules in the first place, so he was pretty much almost entirely innocent, yep!

“You’ll probably be better off picking truth, Kiibo-kun…” Amami advised the robot, giving him a small pat on the shoulder. Kiibo twitched.

“This is incredibly unfair… I do not approve…” he muttered to himself, clearly very frustrated. Avoiding eye contact with Ouma at all costs, he continued grumbling under his breath. “Truth, then…”

“Do you have a dick, Kiiboy?” Ouma tilted his head cheerfully; Amami, now sitting beside him, aimed several nudges at his side.

“Haven’t you already bullied him enough, Ouma-kun…?”

“And these sorts of questions aren’t supposed to be allowed… Not that I’m not curious…” Shirogane blurted out that last part in the tiniest possible voice.

Kiibo was, of course, going on his own little rant in the meantime, collar hiding part of his incredibly flustered expression, rapidly gesturing with his arms.

“…and most of all, even if I am a robot, that does not prevent this question from being extremely rude and childish, not to mention improper! I’ll be sure to show this recording to the professor, just you-“

Then… before he could finish talking, he was powered off, just like that.

Ouma whistled.

“Wow, I guess not even Kiiboy was exempt from that sleeping rule, huh… Ahaha, not to worry, Amami-chan, this just means I can’t tease him anymore, just like you wanted!”

“But it’s not like he lied, right…? He just avoided the question…” Shirogane glanced back and forth between everyone else.

“Maybe that’s why he was switched off, then… You’re supposed to say the truth,” Harukawa’s gaze darkened slightly. “In any case, what now? Kiibo was supposed to spin next.”

“Harukawa-san, Toujou-san, Shinguuji-kun, Shirogane-san… and me. We’re the only ones left with turns,” Amami rubbed his chin thoughtfully, resting a hand on Ouma’s shoulder to keep him still in his seat. “Toujou-san has already spun, though.”

“Let’s just get this over with fast…” Harukawa rolled her eyes.

“I nominate Amami-chan to go last! I still wanna ask him what color his panties are!” Ouma tugged on the boy’s clothes, shaking him back and forth, like a child begging their mom to buy them their favourite toy. Amami gave him a flat look, though he made no moves to stop him - maybe he was just content with being his target again.

“Black with green stripes. I’ll go ahead and spin next.”

_That’s no good, Amami-chan… If you play along like that, that’ll only make it more tempting to continue._

When asking Toujou for confirmation - she had taken it upon herself to do everyone’s laundry, of course she would have an idea -, the girl’s mouth remained a thin line.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i like how these chapters just keep getting longer and longer goddamn


	5. Mafia

“Even Akamatsu-san is gone now… I can’t help but be more and more worried with every second…” Shirogane said quietly, poking her lip lightly with one of her nails, tempted to start chewing on it.

“Don’t worry so much, Tsumugi,” Angie repeated herself for the umpteenth time, nuzzling against the girl’s arm lightly with the side of her head, like a cat rubbing up against its owner. “I already told you Atua will protect us all as long as we believe in him!”

“Even if you say that… We still don’t know what’ll happen to us… or any of the others, for that matter…”

“Don’t say that, Shirogane-chan…” Ouma’s voice shook as tears gathered in his eyes, his hands reaching out to grip Amami’s shirt. “…Uwwaaahhh… I- I don’t wanna die yet, Amami-chan…!”

“Could’ve fooled me…” Harukawa muttered; Amami gave the smaller boy a small pat.

“I suppose it’s still possible that we could be in danger… but none of us are going to die. I’ll make sure of that.”

Ouma’s expression shifted into an annoyed pout; the tone carried far too much weight, and he didn’t like that one bit.

He snaked his arms around the boy’s waist.

“Well, it’s not like we’re really going to die anyway! At worst, I’ll die of boredom.”

After they’d finished the game, Gonta had carried Kiibo off as well, placing both him and Akamatsu into a hopefully safe and comfortable spot for the time being. He was trying his best to help even now, despite understanding even less than everyone else everything that was happening. Shirogane encouraged him with an appreciative smile.

Harukawa, of course, never stopped glaring daggers at Ouma, even after they were done with the last round. Amami made a point to always position himself between them, soothing tensions before they could get worse, making sure to interrupt any time Ouma tried to add one of his obnoxious remarks.

That would’ve been just fine, but, at the same time, there was something about his mannerisms that felt _off_ , like he was keeping something to himself. Something big, that was providing quite a bit of concern and worry, judging by the slowly deepening frown that darkened his expression.

Ouma wasn’t the type to ask things straight out, though.

Even if he would have wanted to, he’d have had to part with his safety net for that.

Instead, he studied Amami’s face intently, trying to pick up on any subtle hints in the process.

Toujou carried herself as elegantly as always as she followed closely behind Harukawa, the two of them examining each area as they came up before any of the others could. While she still did her job of diffusing any serious arguments, she let petty remarks slide, much more occupied with trying to make sense of their predicament herself, more than likely.

Hoshi didn’t lag behind too much either.

Leaning against the wall while the others took their time investigating yet another room - he’d gotten bored with it pretty fast, as the rooms were far too similar for him to have any interest -, Ouma poked Amami’s shin lightly with a foot.

When the taller boy turned to look at him, his lips stretched into a creepy smirk.

“Hey, Amami-chan… Maybe this ghost here is playing with us because one of us knew them before they died… What do you think?”

Amami’s face betrayed nothing; he shrugged his shoulders lightly.

“I guess that’s a possibility. I’m sure most of us here knew someone personally who has already passed away.”

“Maybe it’s one of your friends, Amami-chan. Soon enough, they’ll possess one of us, and pass their final message onto you that way!”

“I wish they would just get to that already, if that really is their plan…” Amami flashed a tired smile, playing along with the made up scenario regardless.

Ouma paused; before he could say anything else, however, they were interrupted by a low hum coming from the side. Turning their heads, they took notice of Shinguuji stroking his mask in a thoughtful manner, holding a glass in his free hand.

“Intriguing… This tea tastes fresh, so it couldn’t have simply been prepared here a long time ago.”

“Where did Shinguuji-kun get that tea from…?” Gonta asked, visibly lost; Shinguuji gestured towards a tray in the corner that seemed to blend right in with the darkness, everyone else slowly gathering around to take a look.

There was another note stuck on the wall right next to it.

_I’ve prepared some refreshments for you guys since you said you were feeling thirsty. I hope I remembered your favourite drinks right!_

Ouma plucked a can off the tray; sure enough, it was panta.

_I promised you guys a hint, right? I don’t want you to start fighting again, but I know you guys well enough to be sure that you’d figure this out no matter what hint I gave you._

_I’m one of you right now._

_If you want to know who, well… I can’t tell you just yet! But hey, whichever one of you ends up winning will know for sure, right?_

_Our next game will be mafia. I know you guys must be worried with Ouma-kun there, but don’t worry, I’ve made him the moderator this time, so he won’t really be participating._

“Aw man, no fair…!” Ouma whined, puffing his cheeks out childishly. “I was totally gonna go on a murderous rampage…”

“Isn’t this only going to make it easier for Ouma-kun to mess with us…?” Shirogane adjusted her glasses, speaking up hesitantly. “Since he can’t drop out of this round now…”

“Isn’t it obvious? It’s because he’s the one who’s playing these pranks on us.”

They all turned towards a rather grim looking Harukawa.

“I’ve suspected you for a while… I have no idea how you’ve been pulling all these tricks off, but now I’m sure it’s your doing. And you’re going to confess it all, while everyone here will be a witness.”

“Please maintain your composure, Harukawa-san,” Toujou advised her, though she made no moves to stop her just yet; she must have been suspicious of Ouma herself. “The note did not say which one of us they were referring to. Whoever is making us play these games, it is rather obvious by now that they do not mean any harm.”

“Hmph… We can’t even be sure if those notes are to be trusted,” Hoshi remarked, peeking up ominously from underneath his hat. “They could be very well lying to us to make us doubt each other…”

“That could be it, yep! Or maybe Harumaki-chan is right, and I really am the culprit!” Ouma laughed; Harukawa narrowed her eyes.

“Don’t call me that…” she hissed, her muscles visibly tensing up, as though she was preparing to lounge at him and snap his neck.

Amami stepped between the two, arms outstretched.

“Harukawa-san, even if that note was telling the truth, we can’t be sure which one of us it is just yet. A different person has been finding the notes each time so far, right? So it’s hard to imagine that one of us has been writing them and sneaking away from everyone else just to place them there.”

“Ouma could have prepared them ahead of time…” Harukawa insisted, her ice cold glare fixated on the boy. “You know he’s the type who would do something like this.”

“Even if that’s true, what about these drinks? They only appeared after Akamatsu-san said that she was thirsty…”

“Ouma was the one who said that first, you know. It was such a suspicious answer as well… It would only make sense if he’d said that to make us believe that this haunting or whatever is real.”

“Or maybe _this haunting or whatever_ really is real,” Ouma poked his head out from behind Amami, his tone uncharacteristically serious for a change. “How else would you explain everything that’s been happening until now, Harukawa-chan? What about the building being so much bigger on the inside than it seemed on the outside? I know you noticed that too. Do you think that’s also some kind of trick?”

“Tch…”

“I have to believe Ouma-kun myself…” Shinguuji finished his drink with a satisfied sigh, somehow able to get it down while he was still wearing that mask of his. “There are things in this world that science just cannot explain. This place… Ah, it’s just like the time Sister finally returned to me…”

They all made a silent agreement to ignore whatever he was going on about.

“If Ouma-kun is right… doesn’t that make one of us a ghost, then? How will we know which one of us it is?” Shirogane nervously glanced around, gripping her skirt. “I’m… I’m not suspicious! See? You can touch me!”

She held her hands out for someone - anyone, really - to take; Angie happily laced their fingers together.

“Perhaps another spirit resides in one of us…” Shinguuji murmured. “I’m afraid my senses are far too clouded to be able to tell right now.”

“Possession… If we are dealing with the supernatural, it is… plausible,” Toujou pursed her lips. “We must be careful not to jump to hasty conclusions, however.”

“Right… In the end, it could be anyone,” Amami nodded his head, turning back to look at Harukawa. “So let’s all take a deep breath before any of us does something that they’d regret later, alright?”

Harukawa slowly lowered her hands; she still hadn’t given up, quite obviously, but she was willing to hold back for the time being - even if not for Ouma, for the sake of everyone else who was requesting her to do so.

“Whatever… Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

She sounded rather bitter about it; Shirogane flinched, but not even she was brave enough to reply to that, even though at first she looked like she was going to apologise.

Toujou herded them towards the circle of chairs they were supposed to sit in while playing, guiding them to their assigned seats herself; she would’ve been much more fitting for a moderator. Ouma himself was, admittedly, somewhat peeved that he wasn’t gonna get to do any mystery solving - simple as it would’ve been -, but then again, he really would’ve been out immediately if he didn’t have his role to protect him.

Maybe it was for the best…

He picked up the deck of cards they were supposed to use to assign the roles, examining it curiously first. His gaze glided to the others before it returned to the cards, and he began shuffling them with smooth, experienced movements.

He’d always been very good at handling cards.

Once everyone had gotten a good look at their own card - and they’d explained all the rules to Gonta as best as they could, Ouma leaned back in his seat with satisfaction, directing them all to close their eyes with a smug smirk.

Really, he didn’t exactly mind who the roles happened to fall onto for the most part. Right now… well, he supposed Amami would have been highly preferable to pass the round. Even though it would’ve probably been fairly entertaining to watch him try and get away as the culprit…

While it also would have been rather amusing to put Harukawa in the role of a killer, he needed someone easier to manipulate.

Not Gonta. He would’ve almost felt bad if one had ended up being Gonta.

Or perhaps Gonta was just too stupid to be tasked with even this little.

After the next set of instructions, the two chosen ones raised their heads simultaneously. Shirogane and Hoshi: the former incredibly weak-willed, the latter rather apathetic.

Ouma leaned on his hand with an amused smirk.

In just a few moments, Angie had already been chosen. Hoshi wasn’t paying much attention himself, just quietly sitting with his arms crossed, and while Shirogane was somewhat reluctant to pick anyone, really, she had to play by the rules.

Ouma’s overexaggerated gesturing proved to be enough to convince her.

The next to have his turn was Amami - the role of a detective would have absolutely been more fitting for Saihara, but, as fate would have it, that wasn’t exactly possible anymore. Amami was probably the second best option now.

The boy gave him a flat look as he quietly tapped his chin a few times, legs crossed leisurely, taking his time weighing his options. Ouma smiled innocently; he wondered if Amami knew him well enough to be able to guess this sort of thing accurately.

After their staredown had ended, Amami lifted a hand to point at Gonta, and Ouma cheekily stuck his tongue out before shaking his head. Amami rolled his eyes lightly before he dropped his head back down, closing his eyes again.

Next came Toujou in the role of the doctor - selfless as she was, she would surely play her role well. The girl’s brows furrowed lightly before she picked out Harukawa after careful consideration. Fair point, but… Ouma couldn’t just knock her out of the game like that, even if she _was_ being a big mean bully - come on, now.

Once Toujou’s turn was over, Ouma excitedly clapped his hands together, ordering everyone to open their eyes again.

“Our first night has passed, and it looks like a victim has already been claimed!” he announced, gesturing towards Angie; she slumped forward in her seat right away, noises of slumber emanating from her direction already. “Yonaga Angie’s life has been taken! But who… Who could our two killers be, I wonder?”

“We can only vote for one person, correct?” Shinguuji stroked his mask. “The roles were chosen by luck, so I can hardly imagine Ouma-kun would have any influence on them…”

“I doubt that. Ouma would try to manipulate it somehow for sure,” Harukawa grumbled, shooting a glare in his direction. “I bet he’d try to pin this on Gokuhara…”

“Gonta is innocent!” Gonta immediately spoke up, nodding his head several times, as though confirming it for himself. “Gentlemen never lie!”

“I think we can trust Gonta-kun about that,” Amami leaned back in his seat. “He’s not exactly an outstanding liar.”

“I will believe Gonta-kun too,” Shirogane backed him up, flashing the boy an encouraging smile. “Gonta-kun is such a sweet, innocent soul, I’m sure he would confess immediately.”

“It would have to be someone who would choose Yonaga-san, correct?” Toujou pursed her lips. “I have a hard time believing that Harukawa-san or Amami-kun would make a choice like that.”

“I… actually agree with that,” Amami nodded his head. “To add to that, I have a hard time suspecting Toujou-san as well.”

“So… Shirogane, Hoshi or Shinguuji? Are these our choices here?” Harukawa asked with a scowl.

Hoshi closed his eyes in a melodramatic fashion.

“It’s only natural that you would think that. If you choose to suspect me, I can only accept that.”

“…I nominate Shirogane,” Harukawa let out a sigh. “She’s the most weak-willed one here aside from Gokuhara. It seems the most likely.”

“M-me? Isn’t that a bit sudden to decide, Harukawa-san…?” Shirogane paled a little, her smile turning much more nervous all of a sudden. Harukawa paused.

“I didn’t mean that. I only said it to see if your reaction would give you away,” she stated simply. “Your breath hitched, and you clearly got startled. That’s pretty suspicious, alright.”

“I’m going to have to agree with you as well,” Amami commented, glancing around at everyone else. “Unless anyone else has any objections…?”

“W-wait a minute, aren’t you two carrying the discussion a bit too much on your own here…?” Shirogane tried to interrupt, biting her lip.

“Hey, if you want to defend yourself, I’m not going to stop you,” Amami smiled, gesturing for her to relax; Shirogane slowly lowered her shoulders. “There would be no reason for you to get so nervous if you were innocent, though… if you ask me. I mean, nothing will happen to you if we guess wrong.”

“S-still…”

“Oooh, have you guys already decided, then?” Ouma whistled. “You sound pretty sure of yourselves. I’d expect nothing less of Amami-chan, of course!”

“The fact that there’s so few of us does make this considerably easier…” Amami mumbled with a wry smile.

“…Very well, I will choose to put my faith in Amami-kun and Harukawa-san’s deductions,” Toujou stated, straightening her back with her hands folded in her lap. “My vote will also be towards Shirogane-san.”

“Oh, dear…” Shirogane fiddled with her glasses.

“I myself have been quite captivated by Amami-kun’s beautiful reasoning,” Shinguuji remarked. “I find myself in agreement as well.”

“That’s the majority already, right? Let’s not drag this out to be longer than it needs to be,” Harukawa impatiently tapped her foot, and Ouma snickered.

“Has Harumaki-chan really become that impatient? Or is she just in that much of a hurry to save that space idio-“

Amami’s hand clamped over his mouth.

It didn’t take much longer for Shirogane’s eyes to slowly close and her head to hang low, her body just barely staying in her seat. Apparently there wasn’t even any need for Ouma to confirm whether or not they were correct.

Amami pulled his hand back reluctantly, seeing as how Harukawa was now occupied with this new development.

“I suppose that’s it for the first round… Welp, just one more left, then.”

When it came time for Hoshi to select someone on his own, he pointed to Shinguuji without hesitation. Smart move, huh… If he can’t eliminate himself to help everyone else, he just has to remove the other suspect. Though Amami-chan would have surely gotten this round on his own anyway.

As Hoshi was selected as the next suspect, Ouma beamed back at Amami with a nod.

Toujou didn’t really know what to do; her gaze seemed to linger on Hoshi for a prolonged period of time, her hands curling up slightly in an uncertain manner before she finally settled on the boy regardless. Close, but no dice.

Ouma announced the next victim with the same amount of glee as before, and Shinguuji went quiet immediately; his sleepy body was stiff enough to resemble a corpse, managing to cause Gonta to panic briefly.

“Hoshi-kun… You did that on purpose, didn’t you?” Amami gave him a long stare, but he received no response.

Needless to say, they got their second guess right as well.

“Wow, I guess that’s all thanks to Amami-chan carrying you all… Congratulations, you guys!” Ouma cheered, hopping up from his chair to stretch his limbs out. “Man, that was pretty nerve-wracking to watch, but you pulled through anyway!”

“It wasn’t particularly difficult,” Harukawa closed her eyes. “You’re becoming too predictable.”

“Oh, am I, now?” Ouma grinned, doing a little spin. “Well, think whatever you want! I won’t stop you.”

“Let’s just finish up these stupid games so we can all leave this place…”

Without further ado, Harukawa walked ahead, not even waiting for Gonta to perform his usual duty of carrying the asleep ones to safety; the boy scrambled to his feet before gathering up Shinguuji and Angie.

“Harukawa-san, please, wait…!”

“Harukawa-san, I don’t think rushing off on your own is a good idea…” Amami called after her, but to no avail; Harukawa was either already out of earshot, or she just ignored him on purpose. His expression fell, and he flinched a little as Ouma poked his side.

“Don’t worry about her, Amami-chan. You yourself said that this is a friendly ghost, right? So I’m sure nothing bad will happen to her just because she ran ahead.”

Amami’s eyes stared deeply into his own, as though trying to read his mind, staying like that for quite a while before the taller boy finally had enough and he averted his gaze.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hm i wonder who the ghost could possibly be


	6. Musical chairs

All it took was a single accusation, a single pointing of a finger, a single step forward to set the boy off; wide shoulders obstructed Ouma’s view, outstretched arms defending him from the furious girl. Ouma’s usual lighthearted attitude was nowhere to be found, his legs frozen in place at everything that started happening so suddenly.

Harukawa had been persistent about her suspicions, but Ouma didn’t mind being treated roughly; he let her glare and stomp and shove, her mutterings going ignored for the most part. He didn’t like Harukawa either anyway, so seeing her get so riled up gave him a sort of smug satisfaction that made the whole thing feel particularly worth it.

The first time he took a startled step back was when her tone got much heavier, her entire body becoming tense, her hands twitching a little by her sides, as though she was ready to leap forward and wrap her fingers around the boy’s throat.

“You’re calling yourself a ghost, aren’t you? So even if I were to kill you right now… it’s not like you could die from it again.”

“ _Harukawa-san_ ,” Amami returned her dark glare with a stubborn stare of his own, not moving from the protective stance he’d taken up, “you can’t know for sure whether Ouma-kun has really been the one leaving those notes.”

“How about we test it out, then?” Harukawa cocked her head to the side lightly. “We’ll see if he can survive being strangled to death.”

“Harukawa-san, violence is bad!” Gonta joined in, hesitantly glancing between Amami and Harukawa. “Ouma-kun is a friend, he wouldn’t-“

“ _Shut up,_ ” Harukawa cut him off sharply.

Toujou, who had been observing silently up until now, lay a hand on her shoulder; her grip was visibly firm, and it was clear she intended to prevent Harukawa from harming anybody… but she couldn’t have possibly been capable of that, Ouma knew that already. No, if Harukawa decided to snap his neck all of a sudden, he’d be dead before he could even blink.

He’d seen how fast she could move before, after all.

“Harukawa-san, please reconsider,” Toujou requested, but Harukawa wasn’t moved by that sort of gesture at all; no, the only person who could possibly calm her down when she was like this was busy snoring on the other side of the building.

She slapped Toujou’s hand away with ease.

“You guys are always like this… Letting Ouma off easy every single time… It’s pathetic,” she spat, her hands gradually starting to grip her skirt tightly. “What do you think will happen if you continue letting him do what he wants? _Do you really want to die so bad?_ ”

“Ouma-kun isn’t going to do anything like that, cut it out,” Amami retorted; his brows furrowed more and more, his voice slowly starting to shift from its usual subdued tone.

Amami was hard to rile up, but his patience was starting to wear thin.

“But what if he does? Even if nobody dies, what if he gets somebody injured with one of his stupid pranks? What are you going to do then?” Harukawa continued badgering him. “I thought you guys were supposed to be _friends._ Is this what _friends_ do? Is this how little you care what happens to everyone else?”

Amami raised his voice significantly when he spoke next, causing Gonta to flinch.

“I know Ouma-kun well enough, Harukawa-san. But if you’re going to be so persistent about this, I can at least promise you one thing… I’m going to take responsibility for whatever happens from now.”

And with that, he found himself less than an inch from Harukawa, a pocket knife close enough to his throat that simply swallowing was enough for his skin to touch the metal lightly; she’d been keeping it in her pocket until now, having snatched it out in a millisecond. The knife fit right into her hand, and her body posture made it fairly obvious that a simple flick of the wrist would be enough to extinguish the boy’s life.

“I’ll hold you to your word,” she simply stated, backing down after that, snapping the knife closed before she slipped it back into her pocket.

Toujou rushed off after her as she stomped off to fume by herself for a while, Gonta worriedly questioning Amami.

“Is Amami-kun alright!? Gonta knows how to treat cuts, so-“

“It’s okay… I’m fine,” Amami flashed one of his usual smiles. “I wouldn’t be making this kind of bet if I wasn’t confident. And… Harukawa-san isn’t going to kill me, or Ouma-kun for that matter.”

He stiffened as a pair of arms wrapped themselves tightly around his waist, tear soaked cheeks squished against his back.

Ouma made no sounds whatsoever.

“This wasn’t just one of her usual empty threats, sure… but even so, she wouldn’t go so far as to kill somebody. If she did, Momota-kun would be heartbroken,” Amami continued in a gentler manner, laying his hands on top of Ouma’s lightly. “You guys don’t have to worry about me.”

“Harukawa-san was really scary…” Gonta let out a sigh of relief at that kind of reassurance, simpleminded enough to believe it without a second thought. Then again, Amami sounded confident enough in himself that he might have even convinced Harukawa herself if she was there to listen for longer.

“I know, right? I actually broke out in cold sweat a little,” Amami let out a soft chuckle. “Still, I want to believe in her too. She just doesn’t seem like the sort of person who would do that.”

The hold around him loosened ever so slightly, and he gestured for Gonta to go ahead.

“I want to talk to Ouma-kun for a bit, so could you please make sure Toujou-san and Harukawa-san don’t wander off too far?”

Gonta nodded his head vigorously, accepting the request immediately, eager to be able to help out more.

Amami waited until he was out of earshot to speak up again.

“It’s okay, Ouma-kun. I know you’re innocent. Your pranks can get on my nerves a little sometimes, but I know you wouldn’t want someone getting hurt because of them.”

Still no reply came; that was fine, he was willing to give the boy more time if he needed it. More than that… he had quite a few things to get off his chest - but then again, he would probably have to wait a little before opening up about everything just like that. He doubted Ouma would take it that well if he suddenly dropped something like that on him.

He bit his lip.

If Ouma really had been the ghost, this all probably would have gone a lot better.

“…I’m sorry.”

If he’d have said that to anyone else, they might’ve asked what he was apologising for.

“…You better be…” came the weak response, and Amami’s shoulders sunk with relief.

He’d have to talk to him soon anyway… and make up for the mess he caused somehow.

A moment later, a beaming Ouma emerged once again, taking Amami’s hand and starting to drag him after the others already.

“Phew, that sure felt great! Let’s go now, Amami-chan, before we get left behind.”

Amami didn’t budge, though, no matter how much he tugged, and he turned back with an expression normally unreadable, but all too familiar to Amami.

“Amami-chan?”

Amami averted his gaze.

“…Never mind… Let’s go see if the others are still in one piece.”

* * *

 

_I guess you guys aren’t really finding this as much fun as I thought you would… I’m sorry, I’m not as good at pranks as Ouma-kun, after all. I’ll leave you guys a gift after all of this is done to make up for it._

_I don’t want to make you guys feel worse, so this will be our last game: musical chairs. You won’t mind playing just one more game with me, right?_

_Even if this wasn’t all that enjoyable for you… thank you for spending time with me. I really appreciated it._

Harukawa turned away from the note.

“See… It’s almost over anyway, so there’s no need to get so upset over it, Harukawa-san,” Amami smiled, causing the girl to avert her gaze with a click of her tongue. It seemed like she managed to calm down after her earlier outburst, especially now knowing that they were almost free.

She closed her eyes briefly, opening them soon enough again, looking like she finally made up her mind.

“In that case… I don’t care anymore. I’m not gonna play more of these stupid games…”

She crossed her arms before she plopped down onto one the armchair closest to her.

“You guys can do whatever you want.”

Her head slumped forward slightly in a few more seconds, and her chest began rising and falling steadily. She must’ve been used to sleeping in unconventional positions; she barely even looked like she was asleep… somehow, Ouma felt like her eyes would immediately snap open if he so much as tapped her on the shoulder.

The room they were in was the smallest one of them all by far, but it also seemed fairly cozy apart from the large crack in the single window inside. Cobweb covered bookshelves and paintings lined the walls, 4 armchairs in each corner, and a soft, fuzzy carpet in the middle.

Each step someone took kicked up a little bit of dust, but hey, that was kind of a given in an old place like this one.

The moonlight shining inside also eliminated the need for their flashlights almost completely.

After unfurling one of the rolled up blankets she had found nearby, Toujou proceeded to meticulously dust it off, carefully draping it over Harukawa, wearing a serene expression.

“This may sound selfish of me… but I am glad Harukawa-san is finally getting some rest. She seemed so stressed out that I couldn’t help but wonder if she was going to cause harm to someone else or herself, to be honest…”

“Harumaki-chan was just missing her space idiot, that’s all!” Ouma laughed, examining the chairs in the center of the room; there were still 4 of them, more than likely due to the fact that Harukawa hadn’t dropped out until now. As he made that realisation, one of the chairs slowly proceeded to crumble to dust - though it resembled sand more than anything -, gradually disappearing completely without a single trace.

_Spooky._

“Gonta knows this game, finally!”

The exclamation sounded so pure that Toujou seemed like she might shed a tear any second now.

“Akamatsu-san taught it to Gonta! But Gonta isn’t very good at playing…”

“Why is that?” Amami tilted his head lightly; Ouma felt like he had a pretty solid idea of the response he was going to get.

“Because Gonta always gives his seat up for ladies… because Gonta is a gentleman,” Gonta’s head hung a little low as he said that, though he sounded more embarrassed about it than sad; Ouma couldn’t help but snicker about that sort of statement.

“You dummy, you just have to remember not to do that! It’s just a game, it’s not like Toujou-chan will die on her feet if you don’t let her sit,” he gave the taller boy several pats on the back, his usual teasing coming off significantly less mean-spirited and more subdued this time around.

The aftereffects of what happened earlier made it just a tad more difficult for him to joke around as much as he normally would.

He knew Harukawa wouldn’t actually _kill_ somebody, of course he did - he doubted she would even seriously hurt anyone aside from him, even if they got her _really_ riled up… Still, seeing Amami like that… even if he knew nothing was going to happen, it somehow made him tense up all of a sudden, a thick knot tying itself in his stomach.

When he followed the source of the feelings of discomfort… he arrived at some kind of void. It was as though someone had taken a single piece of a complete puzzle and hid it from him; there was a hole in his memory, and while he had no idea of what it could contain, he could feel it there with more and more certainty the harder he tried to think about it.

He’d pried himself off Amami before, but in reality, he’d been afraid to let go, wanting to keep clinging to him like a child to its most precious toy.

“I suppose we will be using these to play?” Toujou examined the chairs herself, soon turning to Gonta. “In any case, please do not feel pressured to perform such service for me, Gokuhara-kun. I am a maid, after all; even if much higher things were at stake, I would not mind giving myself up for the sake of everyone else.”

“Now, now, nobody has to give themselves up,” Amami clapped his hands together once. “Let’s just take it easy and play normally. Gonta-kun, you can catch Toujou-san if she happens to faint first.”

“Gonta will do his best!”

“And I’ll be sure to catch Amami-chan!” Ouma declared, the other boy raising a brow with an amused smile.

“Are you sure you can do that, Ouma-kun? While I appreciate the sentiment, you might be a little too short for that.”

“Tsk, tsk, you underestimate my power,” Ouma wagged a finger at him with a playful smirk. “I wouldn’t let anything bad happen to my precious Amami-chan; I could catch you no problem!”

“Aha… Good luck, in that case,” Amami ruffled his hair lightly.

After they all took up a random spot - in order of Toujou, Gonta, Ouma and Amami -, the game could finally begin.

The atmosphere felt much lighter when there was nobody left to rage of glare anymore.

A soft piano track began playing, though none of them could tell where it was coming from; it was eerily similar to a certain song Akamatsu enjoyed playing fairly often… Actually, it almost sounded like Akamatsu herself was playing it.

It was incredibly pleasant to listen to, and Ouma felt himself relax little by little, the music washing over him in calming waves.

The first person to be out was Gonta, as they’d figured; despite the encouragement Ouma had given him, he still couldn’t hold back from letting Toujou have his seat. The girl caught him with a surprising amount of strength, especially given his size; she wasn’t going to be able to lift him, sure, but she could at least keep him from hitting the floor. Amami assisted her in dragging Gonta over to one of the sofas, gently laying him on his side.

The music only resumed when all 3 of them were ready again, but this time, something else came with it.

The hole in Ouma’s memory slowly began filling in in time with it.

Instead of getting lighter, his steps began feeling heavier and heavier, and the sinking feeling in his stomach from before reemerged; he practically collapsed into a chair the next time the music stopped, not knowing what to do with the flood of information that suddenly came into his head all at once.

While Toujou staggered onto the sofa just in time to faint on top of it, the two boys remained silent for what felt like forever, sitting with their backs to each other.

Ouma was the first one to break the silence.

“Amami-chan… the ghost is really you, isn’t it?”

He didn’t need a confirmation to know that he was right; his chest felt heavy all of a sudden, the memories of the past year that had been somehow buried until now returning in one, overwhelming wave. They’d been to this place before, on a class trip just like this one… but…

On that day, the boy named Amami Rantarou had lost his life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ok i honestly have no idea how obvious that twist was but i tried to leave quite a few hints for it so yknow  
> next chapter will wrap the plot up and then we will be done, and im actually gonna try to get it done in the same day bc itll be fairly short compared to the rest


	7. Everlasting epilogue

The music didn’t resume again…

Of course it didn’t. They weren’t playing anymore. Both of them were still in their seats, one of them trying to comprehend the news he’d received, the other one patiently waiting for him to get upset and storm off - he might have deserved that for doing such a poor job.

But Ouma didn’t leave.

“…Sorry, I didn’t think you guys would get so creeped out by this sort of thing.”

“I didn’t. That was mostly Momota-chan.”

The reply sounded a bit too robotic.

“Well, but still… I thought we could just have fun for a while, you know? Since… I’ve really missed you guys…”

Amami let out a deep sigh.

“I didn’t want you guys being all gloomy and stuff, so I figured I could just get rid of those memories until we were done. I guess I should’ve known Harukawa-san would accuse you like that… I did make the game because I thought you might like it…”

“So you were really just lying in the end.”

“Yeah.”

“Silly Amami-chan… You should know by now that nobody is better at lying than me.”

Ouma got to his feet, standing in place for a second before he walked over to the other boy, hands clasped behind his back.

“That was really mean of you.”

Before Amami could reply, he broke into tears, trapping him in his tightest hug of the night so far.

Even though he’d forgotten it before, the night was now clear as day in his memory. They’d come here for a test of courage, but Amami had slipped and fallen from the window… the window of this room. It didn’t seem like they’d been that high up at all, but even so… he was gone, just like that, and the rest of the trip had a dark, gloomy atmosphere that followed them back even after they were gone.

This year they’d come to visit, in an attempt to come to better terms with everything.

Even if Amami wanted them to forget about everything for the night…

Ouma’s hands gripped the other boy’s shirt lightly.

“You should’ve thought up a better lie if you were going to try to copy me…”

The taunt was weak, but Amami still got a little shaken up by it; he muttered another apology under his breath.

The next emotion in line was… regret.

Ouma’s chest swelled up with all the feelings he’d been holding onto until now, and his grip on the fabric tightened. The only reason he could mess around so much tonight was because he’d thought he had more time.

He’d thought he had all the time in the world.

But now, it was more like he’d already run out of time… He’d gotten to hug Amami all he wanted, but he never got to confess his feelings, he never got to go on any dates, or even just a kiss…

He felt a hand on his back, and in that moment, his racing thoughts all came to a halt at once.

“The sun won’t come up until the games are done… remember? That was the rule.”

He smacked Amami on the shoulder lightly.

“ _Ow_.”

“You’re not allowed to move from your spot now,” Ouma declared, though his tone sounded more desperate than demanding. “As the Ultimate Supreme Leader, I order you to stay until I say otherwise.”

If Amami were to stand up, the game would continue, and then…

“Yes, yes… Understood, sir,” Amami chuckled, obeying the request without a single objection.

Ouma let out a subtle sigh of relief, stubbornly holding onto his childish persona even now.

As long as that second chance was still there, he wasn’t going to let go of it. Even if it was just going to hurt more when they had to part ways again… Even then, he wanted to cherish the moment while it was still there - and for that, he was willing to accept a thousand apologies.

Because eccentric as Amami was, Ouma wasn’t much better himself.

“I’ll teach you how a proper prank should work… but you better not tell it to anyone else. Letting Ouma Kokichi’s super special secret methods into the real world would cause chaos and mayhem for sure.”

His resolve solidified.

“But first, I demand a proper apology! And luckily for you, Amami-chan, I have a very special task that only you can do.”

“And what would that be, Ouma-kun?”

“I want you to kiss me.”

A hand tangled in his hair, a pair of lips finally met his own, and clumsy as it felt, he couldn’t have cared less.

People in horror stories always feel cold in the presence of spirits… but really, that couldn’t be further from the truth.

Enveloped in the taller boy’s arms, despite the cold night Ouma Kokichi felt oh so warm.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> there u go, tis finished, u can all go home now  
> i know some people probably want more for a conclusion but i enjoy leaving some things vague and up to the imagination so this will be it


End file.
